Elections to the NHS show that online voting is still in its infancy

Abstract

The 1997-2010 Labour government introduced elections to certain authorities which oversee the National Health Service. Some of these elections now take place online, with ballots cast digitally. The Speaker’s Commission on Digital Democracy recommended last year that digital voting be expanded to UK general elections in order to help foster a climate of improved engagement. Here, Richard Berry shows that the availability of the option to vote online hasn’t led to high turnouts for NHS elections, but that this doesn’t preclude the possibility of it doing for general elections.